Are big and small banks unfairly tagging taxpayers?

The Wall Street Journal’s editorial page today hammers lobbying efforts by banks, large and small, to extend a taxpayer subsidy that began in 2008 as a temporary response to the financial crisis.

It’s called the Transaction Account Guarantee or TAG for short, and it provides unlimited coverage for non-interest-bearing transaction accounts, such as checking and payroll accounts for corporations and municipalities.

“The PR strategy is to present this as a benefit to the li’l ole country bankers who didn’t cause that mess up yonder on Wall Street. This is political cornpone,” as giant banks stand to benefit most, the paper said.

But the Journal doesn’t let small banks off the hook: “The desire to embrace the freedom to succeed without accepting the freedom to fail has been all too common in recent years at banks of every size.”